Can I Deduct Medical Travel Miles for Tax Purposes? Need Advice

Yes, you can absolutely deduct the mileage for traveling to and from medical appointments and the pharmacy! The IRS allows you to deduct travel expenses primarily for and essential to medical care, which includes the cost of getting to and from your medical appointments. For 2025 tax returns (for 2024 expenses), the standard medical mileage rate is 22 cents per mile. And yes, the way you're planning to calculate it is perfectly fine. You don't necessarily need odometer readings if you have other documentation. Having proof of your appointments and prescriptions, then calculating the mileage using Google Maps is a reasonable approach the IRS would accept. Just be sure to keep all your medical appointment confirmations, prescription receipts, and a spreadsheet showing the dates, destinations, and calculated miles. That should be sufficient documentation if you're ever questioned about it.

After struggling with this exact issue last tax season, I started using taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it's been a game changer for tracking medical deductions. I was in a similar situation with tons of medical visits and pharmacy trips without proper mileage logs. Their service helped me organize my medical receipts and appointment confirmations, then automatically calculated the eligible mileage deductions using location data. The best part was that it flagged which expenses were most likely to be questioned in an audit and suggested what additional documentation I should keep. I ended up deducting over $800 in medical travel that I would have otherwise missed.

Wanted to follow up - I decided to try taxr.ai after my initial skepticism and I'm really glad I did. I uploaded my medical EOBs from my insurance portal and it automatically extracted all my appointment dates and providers. The tool then matched them with the correct addresses and calculated my eligible mileage deductions. The biggest surprise was discovering I could also deduct trips to my pharmacy's drive-through where I was picking up maintenance medications. I hadn't even considered those trips before! It showed me I had over $420 in legitimate medical travel deductions I would have completely missed. Really helpful for organizing everything in case of an audit too.

If you're having trouble getting through to the IRS to ask specific questions about medical mileage deductions, I highly recommend Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I spent DAYS trying to get an IRS agent on the phone to clarify some questions about my medical expense documentation. After waiting on hold for hours and being disconnected three times, I was ready to give up. Then I found Claimyr and watched their demo video (https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) and decided to give it a shot. The service actually got me connected to a real IRS agent in about 20 minutes! The agent confirmed that Google Maps calculations are acceptable documentation as long as you have proof the appointments occurred on the dates you're claiming.

I have to eat my words about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I was still desperate to talk to someone at the IRS about some complicated medical deductions including travel expenses. I decided to try it as a last resort after trying for THREE WEEKS to get through on my own. It actually worked! Got a callback in about 45 minutes and spoke with an IRS representative who answered all my questions about medical mileage documentation. They confirmed that Google Maps printouts showing the route between my home and medical facilities are acceptable proof, especially when paired with appointment records. Saved me literally hours of frustration and got me the answers I needed. Sometimes being wrong feels pretty good.

Another option is to use free sites like TripLog to track your medical mileage. I started using it halfway through the year when I realized how many medical appointments I was racking up. It's a simple phone app that tracks your driving automatically.

Stupid question maybe, but does anyone know if you can deduct mileage for traveling to a gym if your doctor prescribed exercise as medical treatment? I have a written prescription for physical activity from my doctor for my back problems.

Just wanted to add another perspective on the mileage tracking issue. I was in the exact same boat last year - tons of medical appointments but zero mileage documentation. What I ended up doing was creating a simple spreadsheet with columns for Date, Destination, Purpose, and Miles. I went through my calendar, appointment confirmations, and prescription records to reconstruct all my medical trips. Then I used Google Maps to calculate the round-trip distance from my home to each location. I printed out a few sample Google Maps routes as backup documentation. The key thing I learned is to be conservative and only count direct trips. If I stopped somewhere else on the way to or from a medical appointment, I only counted the portion that was purely medical. Better to leave money on the table than risk problems later. My CPA said the documentation was more than adequate, and I ended up claiming about $340 in medical mileage deductions. Sometimes the simple approach works best!